Singer KT Features St Andrews Observatory in Music Video

For the twentieth anniversary of singer-songwriter Kate Victoria ‘KT’ Tunstall’s debut album Eye to the Telescope, the artist filmed a music video featuring the University of St Andrews Observatory. The Fife-born artist, raised in St Andrews and famed for her 2004 hit ‘Suddenly I See’ (used in the opening credits of The Devil Wears Prada in 2006), returned in June to film inside the Gregory Dome and give an intimate concert for a select group of fans.

St Andrews Observatory Director Alexander Scholz said the collaboration grew from Tunstall’s deep ties to the town and Observatory: “KT Tunstall has a personal connection with St Andrews, and especially with the Observatory, and these links were the foundation for our collaboration over the past months. She grew up just down the road from the Observatory.”

Tunstall’s father, David Tunstall, was a physicist at the School of Physics & Astronomy, and “on occasion, [...] would take his children to the observatory to look through [the] Telescope,” said Scholz, adding, “she specifically recalls seeing comet Halley in 1986. These visits left a deep impact on Tunstall, inspired a lifelong love for the night sky, and also provided perspective (and the title) for her first album Eye to the Telescope, which made her famous.”

Detailing the timeline, Scholz said, “KT visited us on 9 June this year, as part of spending a day in St Andrews. She played the unpublished title song ‘Eye to the Telescope’ in the Gregory Dome and noticed how great the acoustics are. Some of the footage made it into the official music video for the song that came out on 2 September.” 

On 31 October, Tunstall and her team returned to play a small concert for a select group of fans. “This concert was livestreamed and was watched by a few thousand people at times,” Scholz said. “Footage from the concert will be released at a later time.”

Scholz reflected on opening the dome to artists and the public: “For me, KT's story is a really good demonstration of the power of a telescope. A telescope is not just a technical device we use for research. It can be a source of inspiration and wonder, it widens our horizons, and makes us aware of the extremely large world of possibilities out there.”

“Most of these experiences will not lead to a career in astrophysics, but they will have a positive impact on the lives of people in many other ways,” he added.

On the logistics of Tunstall’s visit, Scholz told The Saint: “The first visit only took about two hours. We didn't prepare anything, and KT came with only three people. The second visit took one (rainy) day. During that day, a team of about ten people transformed the Dome into a small concert hall, and then back into an observatory dome, in an extremely efficient and professional way.”

“The telescope and its operation were completely unaffected. We actually used the telescope for teaching purposes several times during the same week,” he said. “Apart from the Observatory Director and our Observatory Technician, no other University staff were involved. KT's team did all of the work. Nobody paid anything for these events; the guests were selected through a competition among KT's hardcore fans.”

“This project was an excellent way to make our Dome and telescopes accessible to a wider audience who would otherwise not think about astronomy. It was also a great experiment [on] how our domes can be used for artistic purposes,” he added.

Scholz noted that the collaboration follows recent arts-science projects at the School of Physics & Astronomy, including work by local artist-in-residence Tim Fitzpatrick, who transformed the historic Twin Dome with installations and exhibits.

Speaking to the University of St Andrews, KT Tunstall said: “It was such a thrill to be back in the telescope dome where my head got completely flipped open as a kid — I am so grateful my dad gave us that experience. The radius of your life when you are young is as far as you can go on your bike, and then suddenly you understand there is a whole universe we are hurtling through. It completely altered my world and sparked a lifelong love of space and the stars.”

“The metaphor of focusing on things from a distance was so perfect for my songwriting; the light we see through a telescope is often light from the deep past,” she continued. “Growing up in St Andrews, where the night sky was always so spectacular, it has always gifted me with the sense of awe that life is so much bigger than our individual selves, and how connected we all are under that same beautiful light show.”

The Gregory Dome houses the James Gregory Telescope, a 37-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain — the largest telescope in Scotland — which, since its inauguration in 1962 has supported generations of researchers and students studying topics from exoplanet transits and variable young stars to supernovae, lunar eclipses, and space debris.

The video also nods to Tunstall’s wider St Andrews roots with a sequence featuring a vintage Luvian’s ice cream van and the shop itself. Owner Tony Fusaro, who is featured in the video, recalled employing her when she attended Madras College: “She is very accommodating, and she is a grafter, a very hard worker.” 

He remembered the spontaneous performance in June after Tunstall phoned him up to ask to shoot scenes in the ice cream parlour for the video: “The girls [working] all stayed [after their shifts], then Kate kindly said, ‘Do you think the girls would enjoy it if I sang a couple of songs for them?’ and I said I was sure they’d be delighted.” 

The employees enjoyed “a private concert [and] she sang three songs and strummed her guitar in the shop,” recalled Fusaro. “We were absolutely over-awed.”

Fusaro still keeps in touch with Tunstall, having attended the singer’s 50th birthday party earlier this year. 

“She has always been good to me, good to us, with CNBC when she’s had the camera crews in here [...] she has always, always promoted us,” said Fusaro. 

He also remembers the then-seventeen-year-old occasionally asking for weekends off to travel to London where she would busk, Fusaro recalled her telling him. 

“I [...] only have good things to say about her,” he said. “She was a good worker, and always always goes out of her way to promote us […] God bless her.”

Image Courtesy of Alexander Scholz